Keynote Speakers
Day 1- August 4, 2026 (Tuesday) – InterContinental Hotel
10:00 am – Conference Chair and IEOM President Remarks
10:10 am – Host Welcome Address –
10:30 am – 11:00 am Keynote:
11:10 – 11:30 am: Keynote
Dr. Waldemar Karwowski
Pegasus Professor and Chairman
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida, USA
Waldemar Karwowski is Pegasus Professor and Chairman, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, University of Central Florida, USA. He holds an M.S. in Production Engineering and Management from the University of Technology Wroclaw, Poland, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University, USA. He was awarded D.Sc. in management science by the Institute for Organization and Management in Industry, Warsaw, and received the National Professorship title from the President of Poland (2012). Three Central European universities also awarded him Doctor Honoris Causa degrees. Dr. Karwowski served on the Board on Human Systems Integration, National Research Council, USA (2007–2011). He currently is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science journal, Editor-in-Chief of Human-Intelligent Systems Integration journal, and Field Chief Editor of the Frontiers in Neuroergonomics. Dr. Karwowski has over 550 research publications, including over 200 journal papers. He is Fellow of the Ergonomics Society (U.K.), Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), and the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), and served as President of both HFES (2006-2007) and IEA (2000-2003). He received the William Floyd Award from the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors, the United Kingdom in 2017, and the David F. Baker Distinguished Research Award. Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, Atlanta, USA, in 2020. He was elected to Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL), Orlando, Florida, USA, November 2020.
11:30 – 12:00 am: Keynote
12:00 – 12:30 Keynote
12:30 – 1:00 Keynote
Day 2- August 5, 2026 (Wednesday) – InterContinental Hotel
10:00 am – 10:30 am Keynote
10:30 – 11:00 am: Keynote
Emmanuel Urquieta, M.D., M.S., FAsMA
Vice Chair of Aerospace Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine
College of Medicine
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida, USA
Emmanuel Urquieta, M.D., M.S., FAsMA, is the Vice Chair of Aerospace Medicine and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Central Florida – College of Medicine.
In his role at UCF, he oversees the development of research, education, and partnerships in the domain of aerospace medicine.
Prior to joining UCF, Dr. Urquieta served as the Chief Medical Officer at the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health where we managed a multimillion-dollar portfolio of medical research for missions to the Moon and Mars, the commercial spaceflight program EXPAND, and analog capabilities, including partnerships with the Australian Antarctic Division.
He will discuss medicine, the astronauts, and his endeavors in telemedicine to treat astronauts during long space journeys which will include Artificial Intelligence and other advanced methodologies.
11:00 – 11:30 am: Keynote
Professor Eldon G. Caldwell Marin, Ph.D., Sc.D, Dr.Ed. – IEOM President, 2023-2025
Professor, Industrial Engineering Department
Engineering School
University of Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa Rica
Eldon Caldwell is full professor/Cathedraticus of the University of Costa Rica, Central America; member of the IEOM Society Academy of Fellows and member of the IEOM Society Global Council. Also, he has been recognized by the IEOM Society with the “Outstanding Service Award” for his career of over 30 years as an educator, researcher and promoter of development of industrial engineering and as “Distinguished Professor” by IEEE Computer Society, USA.
Dr. Caldwell earned his B.Sc. and Master degree in Industrial Engineering at University of Costa Rica and he earned a Master degree in Service Marketing, as well in Financial Analysis at Interamerican University of Puerto Rico; M.Sc. Health Management Systems at UNED, Costa Rica and a M.Sc. Operations Management at ITESM, México. Finally, he earned three doctoral degrees: 1-Ph.D. in C.Sc. / Industrial Engineering, Autonomous University of Central America; 2- Ph.D. (Sc.D.) in Robotics and Automation, University of Alicante, Spain; and 3-Ph.D. (Dr. Ed.) in Education at the University of Costa Rica, developing the “Theory of Socio-educational Exergy-Anergy and Entropy”.
He is author of many scientific articles and two books: “Marketing of Social Products & Services”, UCR Publications; and “Lean Manufacturing: Fundamentals and techniques for cycle time reduction”, Kaikaku Ins. Press, USA.
Dr. Caldwell served as Director of Industrial Engineering Department at Engineering School of University of Costa Rica, Operations Manager at MASECA, CA; Lean Manufacturing Project Manager at Eaton Corp. Costa Rica, General Manager at Quirós & Cía-Bandag Inc. and General Manager at Lean Systems Intl., USA. He has more than 30 years of experience as advisor and consultant in Operations Management, Lean Manufacturing and Lean Logistics at Interamerican Bank for Development, WHO, UN, World Wide Bank, Coca-Cola, Ministry of Health, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panamá, Costa Rican Institute for Electricity, RTC- Perú, Young Electrical Signs, Nevada, USA, AirCare Inc., Reno, Nevada, Plan International-Honduras, Bournes Co., DOLE Co. and many others. In addition, Dr. Caldwell currently serves as Director of the Central America Robotics and Industry 4.0 Challenge Contest (ROBOTIFEST) and General Manager at Kaikaku Institute Latin America.
11:30 am – 12:00 pm Keynote
12:00 – 12:30 pm: Keynote
12:30 – 1:00 pm: Keynote
Day 3- August 6, 2026 (Thursday) – U Latina Learning Villa
11:00 – 11:30 am: Keynote
Dr. Luis Rabelo
Professor
Department of Industrial Engineering & Management Systems
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL, USA
Dr. Luis Rabelo received the BS in Electro-Mechanical Engineer from the Technological University of Panama in 1983, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1987 Master’s and Doctorate in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri. He was a Postdoc at the University of Missouri in Nuclear Engineering. Dr. Rabelo received a dual MS in Systems and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has worked for the Advanced Technology Group (Goodrich) and Honeywell Laboratories. Dr. Rabelo was a NASA Fellow from 2002 to 2005, and a Project Manager at NASA from 2009 to 2011. He is currently Professor in the Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Department at UCF. He is also the Undergraduate Coordinator. He has written more than 300 articles and a book in Artificial Intelligence. He has been the principal advisor for 39 Master’s students and 29 PhDs. He received the award for the Best Scientific Article of the Year 2004 from the Society of Automotive Engineers, received the distinction “ONE NASA” in 2006. He was the recipient of the Fulbright Distinction in 2008. In November 2008, he received the honor of the Technological University of Panama (UTP) of being the 2008 Distinguished Alumni. In 2011, he was the Henaac Award Winner in Education. In 2013 and 2018, he received the Forest R. McFarland Award from the Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE). Lately, he received the SAE Russell S. Springer Award for his article on the modeling of space operations systems in 2017.
11:30 am – 12:00 pm Keynote
12:00 – 12:30 pm: Keynote
12:30 – 1:00 pm: Keynote
Contact: info@ieomsociety.org